Snow-plowing apparatus

ABSTRACT

A snow-plowing apparatus constructed as that a snowplow rotating member having a water wheel type rotating body placed on a central position and screw type rotating bodies each of which is placed respectively as to neighbor the water wheel type rotating body on the left side and the right side, is provided, the rotating member is rotated around a horizontal axis and having a housing member set as to surround near a rear portion of the rotating member, the snow is plowed in the direction of the horizontal axis and moved to the central position by the screw type rotating bodies, and the snow gathered on the central position is shot upward by the water wheel type rotating body.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

1. Field of the Invention

This invention relates to a snow-plowing apparatus.

2. Description of the Related Art

Conventionally, a snow-plowing apparatus, in which a housing opening forward for snow shooting is attached to a front part of a body on which an engine is mounted, an auger for gathering snow rotated around a horizontal axis by rotational driving force of the engine is disposed in front of the housing as to be surrounded, and a blower to blow away the snow gathered on a center portion by the rotation of the auger through a chute is provided, is widely known.

However, in the conventional snow-plowing apparatus, high torque is loaded to a shaft connected to the engine, very high stress is loaded onto the engine, and defects tend to be generated because the gathering work of the snow on the center portion by the auger and the snow shooting work by the blower are simultaneously conducted by rotating both of the auger and the blower by the driving force of one engine.

So the inventor of the present invention proposed a snow-plowing apparatus which conducts snow-plowing work without loading stress on the engine (refer to Japanese Patent Provisional Publication No. 2007-309050).

The snow-plowing apparatus of Japanese Patent Provisional Publication No. 2007-309050 can easily shoot the snow upward and has very good snow removal effect when applied to newly lain snow.

However, when the snow becomes sherbet-like after a period of time, excessive stress is loaded to the engine because large amount of snow is gathered on the rotation member within a short period of time and the snow becomes stuck to gaps and firm. When the rotation of the rotation member is hindered, snow-plowing can't be conducted smoothly, snow-plowing work is necessarily interrupted or stopped, and working efficiency may be reduced thereby.

It is therefore an object of the present invention to provide a snow-plowing apparatus with which snow-plowing work can be smoothly conducted when applied to sherbet-like snow.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The present invention will be described with reference to the accompanying drawings in which:

FIG. 1 is a perspective view showing an embodiment of a snow-plowing apparatus of the present invention;

FIG. 2 is a front view with partial cross section showing an enlarged principal portion of the snow-plowing apparatus;

FIG. 3 is a cross-sectional front view of an enlarged principal portion of the snow-plowing apparatus;

FIG. 4 is a cross-sectional side view of an enlarged principal portion of the snow-plowing apparatus;

FIG. 5 is a top view with partial cross section showing a used state of the snow-plowing apparatus; and

FIG. 6 is a perspective view showing another usage example of the snow-plowing apparatus.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

Preferred embodiments of the present invention will now be described with reference to the accompanying drawings.

As shown in FIG. 1 and FIG. 2, a snow-plowing apparatus of the present invention is a hand-pushed mower to which a snow-removing member 4, to remove snow S lying on the ground by plowing, is attached.

In the hand-pushed mower 40, an engine 6 and a wheel 7 are attached to a frame 8 having a handle 41, a rotation transmitting portion 9 to which rotation driving force of the engine 6 is transmitted is placed on an end 5 a of a holding rod 5 extending from the engine 6 forward and downward, and the snow-removing member 4 is attached to the end 5 a of the holding rod 5 through the rotation transmitting portion 9. The rotation transmitting portion 9 is provided with a gear case 18 on the end 5 a of the holding rod 5, a gear in the gear case 18 is connected to the engine 6 with a driving shaft disposed within the holding rod 5 as to freely rotate, and a rotation shaft portion 19 protruding from the gear case 18 is made rotate around a horizontal axis L.

As shown in FIGS. 2 through 4, the snow-removing member 4 is provided with a snowplow rotating member 1 having a water wheel type rotating body 10 to plow the snow S upward and screw type rotating bodies 11 and 12 to move the snow S in the direction of the horizontal axis L.

The rotating member 1 is penetrated by a shaft member 2, to which the rotation driving force of the engine 6 is transmitted through the rotation transmitting portion 9, and driven to rotate around the horizontal axis L. The shaft member 2 is composed of a metal pipe formed to have polygonal cross section, and an end of the shaft member 2 is fit to a rotation shaft portion 19 of the rotation transmitting portion 9. Further, a housing member 3 is disposed near the rotating member 1 on a rear side. In other words, in FIG. 2 and FIG. 3, the rotating member 1 is composed as that the screw type rotating body 11, the water wheel type rotating body 10, and the screw type rotating body 12 are serially disposed from left to right of the horizontal axis L in front view as to be freely separated and connected, and penetrated as to unitedly rotate.

The rotating direction X of the rotating member 1 and the shaft member 2 is a direction of forward rotation in FIG. 2 and FIG. 3, and counterclockwise in FIG. 4.

As shown in FIG. 2 and FIG. 3, the water wheel type rotating body 10 is disposed on a central position C of the rotating member 1 and provided with plural plate blades 10 a with a predetermined uniform pitch in a peripheral direction R. Although a case that 4 plate blades 10 a are disposed with a uniform pitch of 90° is shown in FIG. 4, the number and the pitch angle of the plate blades 10 a may be modified. The water wheel type rotating body 10 is composed of synthetic resin, preferably polyurethane or polyethylene. In the water wheel type rotating body 10, a pair of disc portions 14 are disposed parallel on left and right end portions, and connected by a connecting portion 13. The plate blades 10 a are fixed to a peripheral face 13 a of the connecting portion 13 and inner faces 14 a of the disc portions 14 to be disposed radial. The plate blade 10 a is certainly fixed with high strength because its inner wall face is supported by the peripheral face 13 a of the connecting portion 13 and left and right side faces are supported by the inner faces 14 a of the disc portions 14. Further, The plate blade 10 a is inclined forward (inclined toward the rotational direction X) in the peripheral direction R with an inclination angle θ₀ of 30° to 50°. A polygonal insertion hole portion 15, opening on the disc portions 14 and fit to the shaft member 2 without gaps, penetrates the water wheel type rotating body 10, and the shaft member 2 is removably inserted to the insertion hole portion 15 like a skewer. That is to say, the water wheel type rotating body 10 is composed as to be driven by the shaft member 2 to plow the snow S upward.

Each of the screw type rotating bodies 11 and 12 is respectively disposed as to neighbor the water wheel type rotating body 10 on the left side and the right side. It is preferable to make the screw type rotating bodies 11 and 12 with metal or synthetic resin composed of polyethylene. In each of the screw type rotating bodies 11 and 12, a pair of disc portions 24 are disposed parallel on the left and right end portions and connected by the cylindrical connecting portion 23. A polygonal insertion hole portion 25, opening on the disc portions 24 and fit to the shaft member 2 without gaps, penetrates the screw type rotating bodies 11 and 12, and the shaft member 2 is removably inserted to the insertion hole portion 25 like a skewer.

In the screw type rotating body 11, a screw blade 11 a to move the snow S from left to right (from the left outer side to the right inner side) in the horizontal axis L direction is formed on a peripheral face 23 a of the connecting portion 23. On the other hand, in the screw type rotating body 12, a screw blade 12 a to move the snow S from right to left (from the right outer side to the left inner side) in the horizontal axis L direction is formed on the peripheral face 23 a of the connecting portion 23. That is to say, the pair of screw type rotating bodies 11 and 12 is constructed as that the screw blades 11 a and 12 a, forming mutually opposite spirals, are provided, the snow S is moved from the outer side to the inner side along the horizontal axis L direction and transferred to the central position C where the water wheel type rotating body 10 is disposed.

Therefore, the rotating member 1 is constructed as that the snow S is plowed in the horizontal axis L direction and sent to the central position C by the screw type rotating bodies 11 and 12, and the snow S gathered on the central position C is plowed upward by the water wheel type rotating body 10.

Next, as shown in FIG. 2 and FIG. 4, the housing member 3 is formed as to surround near the rotating member on the rear side. The housing member 3 has a snow-shooting wall portion 31 formed approximately J-shaped inclining upward and forward in cross section to guide the snow S upward, side wall portions 35 in back and forth direction of which rear side is formed unitedly with sides of the snow-shooting wall portion 31, and a snow-shoveling member 33 disposed along a lower end edge 32 of the snow-shooting wall portion 31. The snow-shooting wall portion 31 has a flat plate portion 31 b inclining upward and forward in cross section and a curved plate portion 31 a extended downward from the flat plate portion 31 b. And, an attachment disc portion 17 of the gear case 18 is fixed to the side wall portion 35A, one of the left and right side wall portions 35 (on the right side in FIG. 2) with bolts, and the side wall portion 35A is provided with a fixed ring portion 36 having an opening portion 36 a to which the rotation shaft portion 19 is inserted. A bearing member 46 is fixed to an inner side of a lower portion of the side wall portion 35B on the other side (on the left side in FIG. 2). The shoveling member 33 has a shoveling face portion 33 c formed along the lower end edge 32 of the snow-shooting wall portion 31, an inclined face portion 33 b protruding forward from the shoveling face portion 33 c and inclining forward and downward, and a sliding face portion 33 a formed backward and horizontal as to form a corner portion 37 of acute angle in cross section with a forward end edge of the inclined face portion 33 b.

The bearing member 46 has a (radial) bearing 47 having an inner ring to which another end of the shaft member 2, of which one end is fit to the rotation shaft portion 19, is attached, and a bearing main body 48 having a hole portion 48 a to which an outer ring of the bearing 47 is attached. The bearing main body 48 is fixed to the inner face of the side wall portion 35B with bolts. The bearing member 46 holds the shaft member 2 as to smoothly rotate without staggering the horizontal axis L.

In the housing member 3, the shaft member 2 bridges between the side wall portions 35A and 35B to support the rotating member 1 as the curved plate portion 31 a of the snow-shooting wall portion 31 becomes proximate to the peripheral face of the disc portion 14 with a gap g of a predetermined dimension. The gap g is sufficiently narrow as the snow S, plowed and transferred to the central position C by the screw blades 11 a and 12 a, does not rushingly concentrate on the water wheel type rotating body 10.

And, in FIG. 1 and FIG. 5, the hand-pushed mower 40 has a spherical height adjuster 42 attached to a middle position of the holding rod 5 to keep the height of the snow-removing member 4 constant. The wheel 7 is a hollow tire or barrel (of shell construction) formed by blow molding, and having a diameter approximately equal to or larger than the height adjuster 42. Each of a pair of auxiliary wheels is disposed on the left and right sides respectively. And, the hand-pushed mower 40 has a fixation rod member 26 of which one end 26 a is detachably attached to a middle of the holding rod 5 and another end is attached to the rear portion of the housing member 3 to fix the direction of the snow-removing member 4.

The engine 6 preferably has the maximum rotation output of 5000 to 10000 rotations per minute (rpm). In this case, the rotation transmitting portion 9 is constructed as to reduce the rotation of the engine 6 and make the rotation shaft portion 19 rotate at 2500 to 5000 rotations per minute (rpm).

The method of use (function) of the above-described snow-plowing apparatus of the present invention is now explained.

As shown in FIG. 1 through FIG. 4, the shaft member 2 connected to the rotation transmitting portion 9 and the rotating member 1 rotate around the horizontal axis L in the rotating direction X when the engine 6 of the hand-pushed mower 40 is started. When a worker holding the handle 41 moves the mower 40 forward, the sliding face portion 33 a of the snow-shoveling member 33 attached to the snow-removing member 4, sliding on the ground, shovels the snow S lying on the ground with the inclined face portion 33 b. The snow S is smoothly taken into the housing member 3 and sent to the rotating member 1.

The rotating member 1 plows, disperses, and shoots the snow S, coming in contact from the front side, upward on the central position C. The rotating member 1 rotating with high rotation pitch disperses newly lain snow S, and brakes even sherbet-like or frozen firm snow S lying for a period of time into fine grains.

As shown in FIG. 3 and FIG. 4 with arrows, the snow S which contacts the rotating member 1 is given driving force by the screw type rotating bodies 11 and 12 and plowed in the horizontal axis L direction. The snow S moved to the inner side in the horizontal axis L direction is transferred to the central position C little by little through the gap g between the disc portion 14 and the snow-shooting wall portion 31, and the snow S does not become stuck to the plate blade 10 a. The snow S of fine grains smoothly moves without sticking into the gap g. Simultaneously, the rotating member 1 plows the snow S gathered on the central position C upward by the water wheel type rotating body 10. The water wheel type rotating body 10 shoots the snow S, coming over the disc portion 14 and directly coming to the plate blade 10 a, upward with the plate blade 10 a. The plate blade 10 a, inclining forward with the inclination angle θ₀, certainly plows the snow S. The torque on the shaft member 2 in the snow plowing is greatly reduced in comparison with a snowplow which plows the snow S with the whole length in the horizontal axis L, and stress loaded on the engine 6 is reduced because the rotating member 1 plows the snow S with the water wheel type rotating body 10 disposed on the central position C.

Then, the snow S, shot upward from the central position C of the rotating member 1, is guided by the flat plate portion 31 b of the snow-shooting wall portion 31 to go in the forward and upward inclining direction. The housing member 3 prevents the snow S from being scattered in side directions with the side wall portions 35, and guides the snow S in a forward and upward inclining uniform direction to shoot.

As shown in FIG. 5, in the hand-pushed mower 40, the snow-removing member 4 is widely moved not only back and forth but left and right to remove the snow S with drawing arcs because the end 5 a of the holding rod 5 can be lightly oscillated left and right with the height adjuster 42 rolling on the ground. As described above, the snow-removing member 4 is oscillated left and right to plow the snow with broad width like sweeping with a broom for conducting efficient removal of snow. Further, when the removal is conducted with speed adjustment of the oscillation of the snow-removing member 4 as to correspond to the amount of lying snow, excessive stress is not loaded on the engine 6 and number of parts used for the rotation transmitting portion 9 is small.

And, as another example of usage of the snow-plowing apparatus of the present invention, as shown in FIG. 6, the fixation rod member 26 and the snow-removing member 4 may be attached to a hand-pushed mower used as mowing grass for snow plowing. In this case, a guard member 43, attached to a middle position of the holding rod 5 to prevent grass from jumping to the user, and a mowing blade 44, attached to the rotation transmitting portion 9, are freely changed. The guard member 43 and the mowing blade 44 for mowing grass are replaced (refer to an arrow 51 in FIG. 6) with the fixation rod member 26 and the snow-removing member 4 for snow plowing (refer to an arrow 52 in FIG. 6) to interchange mowing grass with snow plowing. The units such as the engine 6 and the wheel 7 attached to the frame 8 are constructed as to be used for both of mowing grass and snow plowing.

In the present invention, modifiable in design, for example, through holes or notched portions may be formed on the disc portions 14 of the water wheel type rotating body and the disc portions 24 of the screw type rotating bodies 11 and 12 (not shown in Figures). With this construction, large amount of the snow S can be sent to the water wheel type rotating body 10 not only through the gap g formed between the disc portion 14 and the snow-shooting wall portion 31 but through the through holes or notched portions, and more smoothly transferred to the central position C.

As described above, the torque in the moment of plowing the snow S by the rotating member 1 is reduced and the stress loaded on the engine 6 is greatly decreased, the rotating member 1 can be always rotated smoothly, snow-plowing work can be efficiently conducted, and defects of the engine 6 can be restricted because the snow-plowing apparatus of the present invention has the construction in which the snowplow rotating member 1, having the water wheel type rotating body 10 disposed on the central position C and the screw type rotating bodies 11 and 12 each of which is disposed as to neighbor the water wheel type rotating body 10 on left side and right side, is provided, the rotating member 1 is driven to rotate around the horizontal axis L and having the housing member 3 disposed to surround the near portion of the rotating member 1 on the rear side, and the screw type rotating bodies 11 and 12 plow the snow S in the horizontal axis L direction and transfer the snow S to the central position C and the snow S gathered on the central position C is plowed upward by the water wheel type rotating body 10. The water wheel type rotating body 10 and the screw type rotating bodies 11 and 12 can be simultaneously rotated, the snow S is gathered on the central position, and the gathered snow S can be certainly shot upward. And, although the production cost of mold becomes very expensive when the whole of the rotating member 1 is made as one unit, the production cost of mold is greatly reduced with high accuracy by making the wheel type rotating body 10 and the screw type rotating bodies 11 and 12 separately. And, in need of repairing, the wheel type rotating body 10 and the screw type rotating bodies 11 and 12 can be separately changed without changing the whole of the rotating member 1 as one unit.

And, the torque in the moment of plowing the snow S by the rotating member 1 is reduced and the stress loaded on the engine 6 is greatly decreased, the rotating member 1 can be always rotated smoothly, snow-plowing work can be efficiently conducted, and defects of the engine 6 can be restricted because the snow-plowing apparatus of the present invention has the construction in which the snowplow rotating member 1, having the water wheel type rotating body 10, disposed on the central position C and provided with plural plate blades 10 a with a predetermined pitch in the peripheral direction R, and the screw type rotating bodies 11 and 12, which are disposed as to neighbor the water wheel type rotating body 10 on left side and right side and provided with the screw blades 11 a and 12 a forming mutually opposite spiral configurations, is provided, the shaft member 2, penetrating the rotating member 1 to driven the rotating member 1 to rotate around the horizontal axis L, is provided, the housing member 3, disposed to surround the near portion of the rotating member 1 on the rear side, is provided, and the screw type rotating bodies 11 and 12 plow the snow S in the horizontal axis L direction and transfer the snow S to the central position C and the snow S gathered on the central position C is plowed upward by the water wheel type rotating body 10. The water wheel type rotating body 10 and the screw type rotating bodies 11 and 12 penetrated by the shaft member 2 can be simultaneously rotated as one unit, the snow S is gathered on the central position, and the gathered snow S can be certainly shot upward. And, although the production cost of mold becomes very expensive when the whole of the rotating member 1 is made as one unit, the production cost of mold is greatly reduced with high accuracy by making the wheel type rotating body 10 and the screw type rotating bodies 11 and 12 separately. And, in need of repairing, the wheel type rotating body 10 and the screw type rotating bodies 11 and 12 can be separately changed by drawing out of the shaft member 2 without changing the whole of the rotating member 1 as one unit.

And, the snow S transferred inward in the horizontal axis L direction is transferred to the central position C little by little through the gap g between the disc portion 14 and the snow-shooting wall portion 31, and the snow S can be certainly plowed out by the wheel type rotating body 10 without sticking to the plate blade 10 a because a pair of the disc portions 14 is disposed parallel on left and right side end portions of the water wheel type rotating body 10, the plural plate blades 10 a are fixed to the peripheral face 13 a of the cylindrical connecting portion 13 which connects the disc portions 14 and inner faces 14 a of the disc portions 14, and the plate blade 10 a is inclining forward with the inclination angle of 30° to 50° in the peripheral direction R. And, strength of the plate blade 10 a can be improved to be certainly fixed. Further, the water wheel type rotating body 10, holding the snow S on the plate blades 10 a, rotates and certainly plows the snow S.

And, the wheel type rotating body 10 and the screw type rotating bodies 11 and 12 are disposed in the horizontal axis L direction as to be freely separated and connected to compose one unit of the rotating member 1 as on a skewer because the shaft member 2 has a polygonal cross sectional configuration, insertion hole portions 15 and 25 of polygonal configuration to which the shaft member 2 is inserted are formed through the water wheel type rotating body 10 and the screw type rotating bodies 11 and 12, and the shaft member 2 is detachably inserted to the insertion hole portions 15 and 25. That is to say, the snow S can be stably plowed by coaxially rotating the water wheel type rotating body 10 and the screw type rotating bodies 11 and 12. And, changing and repairing of the water wheel type rotating body 10 and the screw type rotating bodies 11 and 12 can be very easily conducted.

While preferred embodiments of the present invention have been described in this specification, it is to be understood that the invention is illustrative and not restrictive, because various changes are possible within the spirit and indispensable features. 

1. (canceled)
 2. A snow-plowing apparatus comprising a construction in which: a snowplow rotating member, having a water wheel type rotating body, disposed on a central position and provided with plural plate blades with a predetermined pitch in a peripheral direction, and screw type rotating bodies, which are disposed as to neighbor the water wheel type rotating body on left side and right side and provided with screw blades forming mutually opposite spiral configurations, and having inner disc portions, is provided; a shaft member, penetrating the rotating member to drive the rotating member to rotate around a horizontal axis, is provided; a housing member, disposed to surround a near portion of the rotating member on a rear side and having a snow-shooting wall portion, which covers the whole width of the rotating member, is provided; and the screw type rotating bodies plow snow in the horizontal axis direction and transfer the snow to the central position through a gap between the screw blades of the screw type rotating bodies and the snow-shooting wall portion of the housing member, and the snow gathered on the central position is plowed upward by the water wheel type rotating body, wherein a pair of disc portions is disposed parallel on left and right side end portions of the water wheel type rotating body and attached to respective inner wall portions of the inner disk portions of the screw type rotating bodies; the plural plate blades are fixed to a peripheral face of a cylindrical connecting portion which connects the plural plate blades with inner faces of the disc portions; and each plate blade is inclining forward with an inclination angle of 30° to 50° in the peripheral direction; and openings are formed in the disc portions of the water wheel type rotating body and the inner disc portions of the screw type rotating bodies and arranged such that snow is sent through the openings from the screw type rotating bodies to the water wheel type rotating body.
 3. (canceled)
 4. The snow-plowing apparatus as set forth in claim 2, wherein the shaft member has a polygonal cross sectional configuration, an insertion hole portion of polygonal configuration to which the shaft member is inserted is formed through each of the water wheel type rotating body and the screw type rotating bodies, and the shaft member is detachably inserted to the insertion hole portions. 